'Drishyam 2' review: A fitting remake of a hit sequel

Drishyam 2

Hindi (Theatres)

Director: Abhishek Pathak

Cast: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Akshaye Khanna

Rating: 3/5

Making a sequel of a successful murder mystery is often considered not only risky but also tricky, as sustaining the suspense and tension a second time around is not an easy task.

Slapstick comedy dramas and high-octane action thrillers, on the other hand, are successful franchises both in Bollywood and Hollywood, for instance 'Golmaal' and 'Dhamaal' and 'Dhoom' and 'Krrish' in Bollywood and 'Home Alone' and 'Rambo' and 'Terminator' series in Hollywood. Ditto with the horror genre ('Raaz' and 'Bhool Bhulaiya' in Hindi and 'Omen' and 'Halloween' series in English).

It’s perhaps this factor alone that restrained even the maestro Hitchcock from making a sequel of any of his masterpieces, though some of his classics (like the 'Psycho' of 1960 for example) were remade multiple times down the years by different directors with varying degrees of success - the last being 'Psycho IV: The Beginning' in 1990 by director Mick Garris.

'Drishyam 2' belies this belief with style and substance, and ticks almost all the boxes. The sequel to the 2015 hit, a remake of the Malayalam film of the same name by writer-director Jeethu Joseph, packs enough punches to make it worth a revisit.

The original 'Drishyam' was a huge success for a film of this genre and was remade not only in almost all the leading Indian languages, but also in Sri Lankan Sinhalese ('Dharmayuddhaya' in 2017) and Chinese ('Sheep Without A Shepherd in 2019').

The sequel begins where the first part ends – with the murder case of Samir Deshmukh, son of IG Meera Deshmukh (Tabu), closed as ‘unresolved’. The new top cop in town (Akshaye Khanna) reopens the file much to the agony of Vijay Salgaongar (Ajay Devgn) and his family who inadvertently gets embroiled in the case.

The real hero of 'Driysham 2' is the cleverly written plot (Joseph), and the twists and turns incorporated at the right times before a befitting climax, which may not be as novel or notorious as in part one, but is nevertheless equally captivating due to its ingenuity.

The suspense is heightened by some good acting by the entire cast which is easily relatable. One can feel their tribulations and trauma as the Salgoankar family go through another extended and excruciating round of police investigation as well as close scrutiny by their neighbours.

Repeated close-up shots of the leading characters and effective use of slow motion scenes add extra impact to an intense plot which ebbs and flows right through.

In the seven-year gap since 'Driysham', Vijay Salgoankar, the ‘Chauthi Fail Aam Aadmi’ and a complete Family Man, has moved on from being a cable operator to a theatre owner and a potential producer of a film while Meera Deskmukh is now retired but still in the hunt to find the killers of her only son Samir.

Devgn and Tabu reprise their roles with another sublime performance. As parents on the opposite sides of the law, they are easily believable though they give their roles the required cutting edge when needed to heighten the intrigue.

Akshaye Khanna as the new police chief enters the scene from where he left off in Sridevi-starrer Mom, all the mannerisms included. His role and that of Saurabh Shukla as a writer, is a welcome addition to a tightly knitted star cast and adds a new element of suspense. Shukla as expected blends with his character despite limited time and space. Khanna, on the other hand, is suave and sensitive as a police chief hell bent on solving a complex murder case.

A little control over his exaggerated, and, at times, irritating body language may have made Khanna, whose resemblance to home minister Rajnath Singh is already a distraction, more authentic. By contrast, Kamlesh Sawant does not have as much scope as in 'Driysham' to be intimidating as the corrupt cop Gaitonde, but he makes his presence felt with another impactful performance.

Like in the first part, the background score and music enriches the narrative, shocks and soothes the audience in equal measure. Remember the song Dum Ghutta Hai (lyrics by Gulzar and in the evocative voices of Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Rekha Bhardwaj under the baton of Vishal Bhardwaj) from the first part - shot beautifully in a moving bus on the undulating Goa roads with pristine beaches in the backdrop.

The song Sahi Galat (lyrics by Amitabh Bhattacharya, composed by Rockstar DSP and sung by King) in the sequel has an equal effect on the narrative as well as the audience as it comes at a crucial juncture in the film.

If Nishikant Kamat, the director of 'Driysham', whose untimely death a couple of years ago was a great loss for Bollywood, added an extra layer of alibi for Vijay Salgoankar through the ATM scene in the first part (which was not in the original Malayalam version), the new director Abhishek Pathak is not as ambitious and sticks to the original to a dot. But the fact that he is in control right through in itself deserves a star.

You will enjoy 'Driysham 2' better if you watch it without any needless distractions, like, for example, wasting time on finding faults in it.